Many electronic systems include a circuit board having an arrangement of electronic components that are attached to the board and dedicated to performing specific electronic functions. For example, a personal computer includes a circuit board that has various types of memory for storing program instructions and a processor for executing the program instructions. In general, a circuit board typically includes a non-conductive layer that is laminated with one or more conductive metal layers. The metal layers include patterned contacts that attach to electrical components and patterned traces that route electrical signals between the patterned contacts.
As electronic systems become smaller and more compact, a large number of closely spaced electrical components are generally mounted to circuit boards. Inevitably, however, it becomes difficult to fit all of the necessary patterned contacts and traces between such closely spaced components. Many electronic systems accordingly use circuit boards that include layers of patterned traces located at multiple levels in the boards. Such multi-level circuit boards include metal vias routed through one or more layers and electrically coupled to one or more levels of the patterned traces. The metal vias can be difficult to locate because they need to avoid electrical contact with most of the patterned traces on a circuit board layer. If a via is not placed correctly, two or more individual traces can inadvertently be shorted together. Consequently, it can be difficult to design and manufacture a circuit board having stacked circuit board layers.